Why We Need Spelling
Spelling is an essential everyday life skill. Spelling needs to be pushed much more than it is now. I know adults that no longer know how to spell basic words because, on phones and the internet, it is changed for them. However, shouldn't people know how to spell the words anyway? It is sad for this to even be in question but as today's world becomes more advanced with technology and artificial intelligence, it has to be. Spelling is taught so the students can improve their word choice, pronunciation and understanding of how words are put together. Without learning the basic spelling words they can not learn the prefixes and root words and they will not understand the different parts that make up certain words. Learning words are the only way people can improve their reading skills and comprehension of basic speaking. Spelling tests are usually given out once a week, they usually consist of the same sounding words and have about fifteen words on each list. I do not think spelling tests are the answers, related to Timothy Shanahan from the website, "Reading Rockets", he simply states, "I would argue for the study of the spelling of words, including those not selected by the kids, but selected because of the challenge or the principles of spelling that they represent." Which is one hundred percent accurate. Kids need to learn how to spell, even the wild and weird words in the dictionary. Spelling is taught for a variety of reasons. Learning how to spell improves reading, writing, talking and intelligence. If a student opens a book in seventh grade and had stopped learning to spell in second grade, he may not understand the more intelligent content, even though it is for his grade level. To me, spelling is significant in everyday life. As a full-time college student and a daycare teacher who has to send incident reports and letters home, spelling is a major part of my life. I do not understand how people can get a decent job without the simple intelligence of spelling. Small words or big words, it is all an important duty to learn. In my article, "Should We Teach Spelling, Part One", Timothy Shanahan goes over these basic needs for education as well. His statement is below. Spelling is important for a lot of reasons: #It is included in your educational standards: your community wants kids to spell well. #Spelling is related to reading. If your students can spell well, they will read better. Spelling involves both an understanding of how letters and sounds relate, but it also entails an understanding of the meaningful parts of words (think of the differences in pronunciation of the spelling of words like democracy and Democrat; declaration and declare; or cats and dogs; our spelling system preserves the meaning, not the sound-symbol relationship). #Spelling is related to writing. Students, when they can spell well, are more willing to use a wide vocabulary (they aren’t constrained by fear of misspelling) and they can devote their cognitive resources to formulating and communicating their ideas, rather than worrying about how to construct words. #Spelling problems may draw negative social judgments. Think of Dan Quayle and what people decided about him when he couldn’t spell potato. We also know that writing quality is more likely to be judged negatively by teachers and evaluators when the writing contains misspellings. #Although spell check helps to even the playing field, it won’t solve the problem entirely. If your spelling skills aren’t advanced enough the computer won’t be able to figure out what it is that you are trying to write, and many times a computer miss-corrects such words. I think that if a teacher is teaching spelling it is best to start with phonics learning. If starting with phonics learning the students can learn the sounds of letters when they are combined or separated. This will help students understand the basics of writing a word and sounding out words when reading. It is very important to learn the basics before the whole words. In conclusion, spelling is an important aspect of everyday life. It is needed in jobs, in school and in basic understandings of life. Spelling teaches us to read and to write, which are significant skills to have. I hope they do not take spelling away from schools, technology cannot replace the basic intelligence a person needs to make it through life. Hannah Hartwig http://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-on-literacy/should-we-teach-spelling-part-1 The Importance of Spelling The older we get, the more information we learn and add into our brains. Learning new words, their meanings, and how to spell them are important to our daily lives. With all of the new technology coming in to play, we rely less on a dictionary and more on the internet, spell check, and our phones--making it less likely that we are able to spell the simplest of words. I find myself using the adaptive text on my phone more often than I should when trying to form a sentence or reply to an email. People are judged on the way they present themselves in situations and on how they speak/interact with others. There are six key factors in why learning spelling is important in our everyday lives: * Communication * Comprehension * Future * Computer Error * Distraction * Impressions Last Communication - definitely one of the most important factors in why learning spelling is so important. Being able to pronounce words correctly and being professional when typing emails at work can impact on how you are perceived by colleagues and bosses alike. Comprehension - the need for people to understand the information they are reading is extremely valuable in the workplace. You need to be able to understand what a client/customer/member/coworker is asking of you so that you can be able to implement what is being asked effectively. Future - to be successful in whatever form we choose is to be determined by how well we work on our spelling. Creating job resumes, submitting college applications, and writing essays for school is all an important part of everyone's future. Computer error - many a times when writing papers on my computer, I have been corrected on how I should spell a word, even though it's not correct. We cannot always rely on the computer and what it has to offer, the human brain is a magnificent piece of "technology." Sometimes the brain is more reliable than any technology we have out there. Distraction - reading someone's work that is full of spelling and grammatical errors can make you lose focus on what you are trying to read in the first place. Being distracted while reading loses the effect of what the paper/book/article/etc. is trying to present. This also ties in to how someone comprehends the work as well. Impressions last - people see and remember how you talk/write/present yourselves to them. Spelling and comprehension have a lot to do with that. If people see you as the person with awful spelling, they will assume you are unintelligent and maybe disassociate themselves with you. If after everything stated above doesn't convince you of how important spelling is, then nothing will. It's such a vital part of our lives and in everything we do that if your spelling is atrocious, you may need to reevaluate your learning and make the effort to acquire the knowledge needed to fix the spelling errors you make. - Kara Benish 4/17/19 Sources used: https://www.k5learning.com/blog/why-spelling-important